A father of four with eight years in the force, Guerra and fellow officer Rosa Rodriguez, 36, took an elevator up to the blaze at 2007 Surf Ave. but were overcome with smoke as soon as they entered the hallway.

Firefighters rescued both after finding them in the hallway, unconscious and unresponsive on the floor.

EMT workers resuscitated Guerra outside the burning building before he was taken to the hospital to be treated for carbon monoxide poisoning and smoke inhalation.

"The tragedy here is that a 16-year-old young man would not have common sense enough to understand the potential implication of lighting a mattress, as has been alleged, on fire in his own building," Bratton said. "How can any of us make any sense out of that?"